


You Came Back

by aeriie



Category: Eldarya (Video Game)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Falling In Love, Hate to Love, New era, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:20:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28764696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeriie/pseuds/aeriie
Summary: It feels wrong to see him like this, in this place. The cherry tree where I said my last goodbyes to Valkyon sways in the breeze nearby, it’s sweet fragrance drifting over me, and Lance's presence is a cruel and bitter contrast to the beauty of it.A collection of Erika/Lance scenes.
Relationships: Ashkore | Lance/Gardienne | Guardian | Erika
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	You Came Back

"Come on! Show me what Jamon's been teaching you," Chrome grins as he raises his sword to begin our sparring session, and I meet him with equal enthusiasm.  
  
"Don't sound too eager to get your ass kicked," I tease, and he snorts with laughter.  
  
"Yeah, yeah. While you and Leiftan have been stuck in that crystal, I've been training hard," he declares, blocking my first blow with ease.  
  
"I'm not the same little wolf you once knew."  
  
"We'll see about that," I push forward with a grunt, steel clanging against steel as we meet each others blows hit for hit.  
  
By the time we take a break I'm panting, sweat sticking my hair to my forehead. He's had the upper hand until now, but I'm sure I can do better.  
  
Though it's only been a couple of weeks, my training with Jamon has paid off. I feel strong again. Like my muscles, grown soft from inactivity, have remembered what it's like to fight. To be useful.  
  
A flurry of activity nearby has me glancing towards the Grand Gate, which is standing wide open. No doubt someone has just returned from a mission, though I'm confused as to why so many people would be welcoming them home. I take a long drink from my water jug, wiping the remnants from my mouth with the back of my hand, before picking up my sword once more.  
  
"Ready to go again?" Chrome asks, ignoring the commotion too.  
  
I grin, ready to beat the wolf into oblivion, when something catches my eye near the arches. A glimmer of silver and blue.  
  
_No._  
  
"Erika, wait," Chrome reaches for me but it's too late, I'm already storming towards the path, fury boiling in my veins. Lance slows as I approach, coming to a halt on the graveled path. He doesn't seem surprised to see me, which makes me believe he was informed that I'd returned. If only I had received the same kind of courtesy.  
  
"Erika..." he starts to speak, his voice silenced when the tip of my sword presses into the scales of his armor.  
  
"You shouldn't be here," I hiss, my mind reeling with the possibilities of why he’s here at all, and why not _one person_ is doing a thing to stop him.  
  
"Listen to me-"  
  
"You shouldn't be here!" I say again, overwhelmed by the hurricane of emotions that have hit me like a ton of bricks.  
  
It feels wrong to see him like this, in this place. The cherry tree where I said my last goodbyes to Valkyon sways in the breeze nearby, it’s sweet fragrance drifting over me, and Lance's presence is a cruel and bitter contrast to the beauty of it.  
  
Everything about this feels wrong. _So wrong._  
  
But even worse than Lance's presence is the lack of panic. The last time I had seen him here, people were screaming, they were _suffering_.  
  
Now they look at him like he's one of their own. As though he belongs here. _Here_ , in this place he tried so hard to destroy.  
  
"You killed Valkyon," I grit out from between my teeth, sword pressing into the armor across his heart.  
  
"I did," he says coolly, blue eyes hard as he stares me down. "And not a day goes by where I don’t regret it."  
  
In an instant he lunges, snatching the sword from my hands and tossing it off to the side with ease. He was always faster, always _stronger_ than me. My sword lands on the grass nearby, too far for me to spare the time it would take to retrieve it.  
  
Instead, my hand whips across his face, though he barely flinches, his mouth downturned. When I slap him again, he doesn't stop me. Again and again he lets me strike him, hardening his jaw against the blows. With a fist clenched tight I pound against his chest, over and over and _over_ , growing increasingly frustrated at my inability to inlict any kind of damage, to elicit any sort of response.  
  
"I hate you!" I cry out finally, when the anger and frustration hits a boiling point and I break.  
  
Without realizing it, tears fall thick and warm down my face while my fist thumps against his armor, and the mask of confidence and calm I'd kept in place ever since I'd returned to Eldarya comes undone.  
  
"I hate you, I hate you, _I hate you!_ "  
  
"I know," he says quietly when I finally stop, his hands on either side of my arms, keeping me upright.  
  
He stares at me for a good few moments while I hang my head and cry, unable to keep it in any longer, my emotions pouring out of me in the form of glistening tears. Before he speaks again, he swallows hard.  
  
"Believe me when I tell you that for seven years I've tried to be the man my brother wanted me to be," he says low enough for only me to hear, his voice rough.  
  
"I don't always succeed, but... I'm doing my best."

I look up at him from beneath my lashes, lips curling into a sneer so vicious I feel the hatred I radiate course all the way down to my toes.  
  
"Why would I believe anything you say? The Guard might have forgiven you, but I won’t forget," I seethe through gritted teeth. "For Valkyon's sake, _I can’t_."  
  
"Erika-"  
  
" _Don’t_ touch me," I spit, twisting out of his grasp and watching his arms fall limply to his sides. "Stay the hell away from me."  
  
Ignoring the stares and horrified whispers, I turn and stalk back towards the main building, my eyes blinded by hatred and fury. What the hell happened after I left to make them take Lance, their greatest enemy, and make him one of their own? I can't wrap my head around it. _I refuse to._  
  
If I'm going to get any answers, there's only one person I need to see.  
  
Huang Hua.


End file.
